Play-with-Korea

It's that time of the year again when the theater becomes all the more inviting for its array of goose bump-inspiring seasonal movies _ indulge in horror movies and uncanny fantasy flicks to cool off from the heat at the 14th Puchon (Bucheon) International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan).

The monsoon season has never stopped fans from crowding the annual summer festival in Gyeonggi Province, and this year's edition will offer fans 193 works from 42 countries from July 15 to 25.

Asia's largest genre film event continues to be a hotspot for viewing experimental and rare-to-see works but also offers works with mainstream appeal. This year 34 movies will make their world premieres here. ``We focused on trying to satisfy both fantasy film buffs and regular moviegoers,'' said Kim Young-bin, festival director and theater professor at Inha University.

``The Experiment'' by Paul Scheuring, who is best known for penning the hit TV series ``Prison Break,'' will make its world premiere at PiFan. Starring award-winning actors Adrien Brody and Forest Whitaker, the psychological thriller is a remake of the 2001 German film ``Das Experiment.'' It is about 26 men who take part in a psychological study to investigate human instincts. They assume roles of either prisoners or guards, but the situation spirals out of control as they start taking their parts too seriously.